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James Lisney's hands playing piano Portrait of James Lisney in profile
       

I have nothing but praise for James Lisney's piano playing; he combines velvet touch and wide range of colour with complete understanding of phrasing and dynamic shading. This is someone who can really give the mechanical box of wires and wood a singing soul.”

The Telegraph

 

Upcoming Events & News

Recitals
The Red Hedgehog
20 and 22 April - 9 May
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News
James Lisney Plays Beethoven's Last Three Piano Sonatas at The Red Hedgehog
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THE END OF A DAY - The Music of Árni Björnsson
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Phyllis Sellick 1911-2007
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James Lisney sustains an exciting and varied international career, achieving distinction both for his work as a soloist and for his collaborative work with many major artists. His distinctive quality was already noted at his highly acclaimed Wigmore Hall 'debut' in 1986:

Lisney impressed with his clarity of sound and his ability to elucidate the shape of the music and to stand back a little from it as if in modest deference … exquisitely controlled performances.” The Times

James received further endorsement in 1988 when he was the only artist to be selected by the Young Concert Artist Trust - an organisation that represents, after stringent audition in front of many of the world`s leading musicians, instrumentalists of outstanding potential. This judgement has been confirmed by regular appearances in major concert venues, working with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, the Enesco Philhamonic, the English Chamber Orchestra and the European Community Chamber Orchestra; inclusion in many prestigious recital series and festivals; and a series of recordings for Olympia, Carlton, Bis and Genuin.

The wealth and variety of James Lisney's music life is illustrated by the following major initiatives:

  • Schubertreise is an ongoing presentation of the piano works of Schubert at London's South Bank Centre. Eighteen programmes have been presented that incorporate chamber music and song by a wide range of composers.
  • The Beethoven Project is an initiative that has presented recordings and concerts of Beethoven cycles of both chamber music and piano recitals throughout Europe. Venues have included the Berlin Philharmonie, the Leipzig Gewandhaus and London's Wigmore Hall.
  • Woodhouse Editions is a new classical recording label that aims to return to levels of repertoire selection and presentation that have been eroded in many areas of the recording industry during recent decades. It is an artist lead enterprise that exists to fulfil important recording projects in the time and manner that they deserve. Presented as a quality imprint of Regent Records, the projects are fulfilled by a select community of leading musicians.
  • Jan Vriend, the distinguished Dutch composer, has created a working relationship with James Lisney and his colleagues. Three major compositions have been created with the first of them - Anatomy of Passion for cello and piano - given its first performance in London's Wigmore Hall in December 2005.

"One could describe James Lisney by repeating Goethe's words about Beethoven: A more self-contained, energetic, sincere artist I never saw." Newbury Spring Festival

 

 
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